Guardian Angel
by Mause
Summary: She was always there to save him, but can she change the future? Shikamaru and Temari.
1. Premonitions

"Shikamaru!" she yelled, as the missing-nin swung his shamshir.

Shikamaru slumped back against the rock, buffeted by the raging winds of her fan. The ninja took the full force of the blow, and was flung away, tumbling through the air.

He stared up at Temari. Her clothes were dirty and torn, and she was covered in sweat. Half her face glowed red from a barely-dodged fire jutsu. Her hair was full of soot and dirt. She looked beautiful. So why was she staring down at him so sadly?

"Cut it a little close, didn't you? A few seconds later and it would have been troublesome," he chided. She just stared at him.

"What?" he asked, then followed her gaze.

Ah. I've been eviscerated, he thought, with the calm detachment of shock. His finger reached down, felt the warmth, the sliminess. He could feel the chill slowly spreading from the tips of his fingers and toes.

A scream began somewhere deep within him.

And tore out.

He awoke with the scream still on his lips.

Temari was shaking him. "Quiet, idiot! What are you trying to do?" she spoke lowly, but urgently.

His breathing slowed. He stared down at himself, one hand feeling his stomach, which was still all in one piece, but soaked in sweat.

"A dream," he spoke quietly, as if to reassure himself.

"A dream?" she repeated, her face barely visible in the moonlight.

"I died. You were there," he explained.

"Shikamaru...we kill, see our friends and allies get hurt and die around us, and risk death every mission. Dreams like that a normal, in a horrible way," she hoped the darkness hid the concerned look on her face.

Not for me, he wanted to say. Not even after Asuma.

"This one felt real, more real than any dream I've ever had."

God, why does the genius pick now to get irrational, she wondered. Why in the middle of a mission?

"It was just a dream, Shikamaru," she reassured him.

"Yeah, I guess," he agreed, tugging a cigarette from a vest pocket and lighting it.

She snatched it from his fingers.

"Don't, you'll break the genjutsu," she chided. A lit cigarette was unlikely to break the genjutsu that concealed their small two-person camp, but it was a good enough reason to get him to stop.

He grumbled something, rolled over and faced away from her, and tried to sleep.

Still, now he was awake, he knew. Trying to sleep would be an exercise in futility. He heard Temari's breathing slow and gradually even out. Damn her. She could sleep standing up in a thunderstorm.

Why the hell am I even here, he wondered. Suna could handle their own diplomatic missions. I'm just a temporary envoy. Know-it-all Tsunade thought it would be best to get me out of the village for a while. Got to keep her precious strategist in top form. Can't let him be around things that remind him of his dead teacher. Like, oh, his friends.

Still, he had to admit, Temari had done a decent job making him feel at home. She seemed determined to outdo Konoha's hospitality at every turn. Except for the damn conspiracy to steal his cigarettes whenever possible.

He had actually found himself relaxing and enjoying himself. And then this mission had come up, and she had insisted that he come. Decidedly troublesome. Still, Kankuro was getting annoying, with the constantly spying and warning him not to hit on his sister. Maybe it was for the best.

Daylight was sneaking into his world. The sun would be up soon. He groaned and pulled the small pillow over his head. Today was going to be a long day.

-

An old woman sat on a threadbare mat in the depths of a sandstone cave. She rocked back and forth slowly, eyes closed, wrinkled hands forming familiar hand seals.

After a time, she stopped. Pale blue eyes stared down at the surface of the water below her. A large, still pond filled the cave in front of her. The water was so clear you almost didn't notice it. Small stones glowed at the bottom, illuminating the cave.

"What a sad dream," she said to herself. "He's very young to die so soon."

Still, there was nothing anyone could do, she knew. No sense fighting it, it would only hurt more in the end.

She slowly unfolded protesting limbs. At her age, even getting up was an effort.

Poor kid, she thought again, and went to brew tea.

-

A ninja sat, running a whetstone carefully down the blade of a shamshir. On his arm was a Sunagakure forehead protector, proudly defaced with a single cut.


	2. Sabotage

Temari nudged the lump of blankets with her boot. It groaned and turned over.

"Get up, lazy ass. You're a jounin, act like it." Even Suna's genin were more on the ball than the lazy ninja.

He merely pulled the pillow over his head in response.

"Mm mmf mwf mm mmmmmf," the lump muttered.

She yanked the blanket off mercilessly.

"I said I just went to sleep!" Shikamaru repeatedy despondently.

"What are you, twelve years old?" she demanded, turning and stalking off before she started hitting him.

Shikamaru sighed. Guilt was a better weapon than nagging. He rolled off his paper-thin sleeping pad and struggled to his feet.

Temari came back a few minutes later, looking rested and refreshed. Shikamaru began to suspect she went to an inn last night and left him sleeping on the ground.

"Remind me again why I'm here, on the rocky ground, with bugs crawling in my pants, instead of being massaged in an expensive hotel in Suna?" Shikamaru asked, scratching a fresh mosquito bite. They didn't bother Temari, she probably tasted bad.

"Because it's a high level diplomatic mission, and you're the highest ranking Konoha nin available," she explained, for the fifth time or so. She watched him scratch and thought guiltily about the bug repellant in her pouch. Mentioning it now would probably seem like she had withheld it on purpose, right?

"As if I'm qualified to deal with any diplomatic mission beyond passing notes," the lazy ninja grumbled.

"You're my liasion in Konoha, aren't you?" she asked. Something about him underestimating himself annoyed her. Maybe because he had beaten her years ago.

"That's not the same, I just show you around and make sure genin boys don't try to grab your ass. Hardly real diplomacy."

She sighed. He could always find a way to twist any argument against you. "The longer you bitch the longer the mission takes."

He frowned, but conceded the point and began packing up their camp. It was light, they were supposed to move fast. The village of the Mist was supposed to provide supplies for the meeting.

In truth, he was flattered to have been included. Gaara could have easily left him out, or sent the civilian Ambassador. That he trusted in on the mission with his sister was an incredible compliment. Still, the responsibility annoyed him at every turn. If he messed up, said the wrong thing to a Mist nin, it reflected badly on his entire village. Relations between the two were still tense, despite having mellowed considerably in the past few years. Gaara and Tsunade were fighting the traditionalists on the councils who loved nothing more than holding onto grudges. Some things you couldn't punch or crush in a coffin of sand.

And now I'm going to ruin it all by spilling my drink on some Mist noble or using the wrong fork or not bowing to some lord.

Temari looked over. "Stop worrying." She had already explained it was a secret, top level meeting. When powerful people wanted to get things done protocol went out the window.

Shikamaru gave her a flat look, as if to say that was impossible, and trudged on.

-

They reached the rendezvous point later that day. The Mist delegation was there as planned. They had set up a large comfortable pavilion, and the meeting took place in a large silk tent.

Temari slid into the role of a high ranking dignitary as if she had been born to it. She greeted dignitaries, remaining polite but not appearing servile. The leader of the Mist group seemed to be an older looking man in billowing robes. Later, all Shikamaru would remember was his intelligent eyes.

Shikamaru hung back, only speaking when spoken to. Technically, Leaf wasn't involved, but was there as a provisional ally of Sand.

The meeting went on well into the night, and Temari seemed to have everything well in hand.

The first sign something was wrong was a wet gurgling sound from outside the tent. A Mist jounin stumbled in, then collapsed on the fine carpet. Blood pooled from a single wound through his chest.

Temari and Shikamaru were on their feet. She swung her fan overhead, filling the tent with wind. The ropes holding it downed strained for a moment, then gave with a snap. The tent fluttered away into the night like a giant bat.

The scene that greeted them was grisly. Mist nins were slumped around the tent, the darkness hiding their fatal wounds. The stench of blood and entrails rushed in now that the tent was gone.

Damn, thought Shikamaru. They killed them all and none of the ninjas inside noticed. Who the hell could do that? He could have strangled a few silently with a shadow jutsu, but this was too much.

The Mist delegation pulled in reflexively, forming a protective circle around the defenseless non-ninjas. Shikamaru and Temari stood together out of reflex. All eyes were expecting dozens of enemy ninjas to appear.

One figure emerged from the darkness. He was shrouded in cloth from head to foot, the light loose clothing of a desert traveler. White, light browns, grey. He wore his forehead protector on his arm. He held only an unadorned shamshir, in a fighting stance.

Mist nins quickly assessed the situation and charged confidently. He cut them down like chaff. Shikamaru could barely follow the movements. The man wasn't even using any jutsu!

The escort fell, almost as one. Most from only a single well placed strike. The man continued to advance, slowly. Shikamaru stood frozen.

Temari raised her fan, but the ninja leapt, landing near the defenseless Mist delegation. The man with intelligent eyes tried to say something, but was cut down. Temari cursed and lowered her fan, knowing if she would kill the civilians between her and her enemy. She pulled out a kunai and charged, but the last of the Mist were dying as their lifeblood soaked the ground. The man threw down a smoke bomb and was gone.

When the smoke cleared Temari stared at the decimated Mist delegation, then turned on Shikamaru.

"What the hell were you doing? Why didn't you use a shadow bind?" she demanded. Shikamaru stared mutely ahead, where the ninja had disappeared.

She slapped him. The crack of her palm against his cheek filled the clearing. She immediately regretted it, but he only glanced at her.

"That was him," he whispered.

"What?" she demanded hotly.

"The one who killed me."

Temari didn't want to believe it, but she found herself turning to stare at the same place as Shikamaru.

-

They stood in Gaara's office. He sat his desk, listening calmly as Temari matter-of-factly explained what had happened. Shikamaru stayed silent. He was dead on his feet. They had rushed back without sleeping to inform the Kazekage as soon as possible.

"I see," said Gaara. "Kirigakure will be informed." He didn't need to say that this would ruin the fledgling alliance before it could start.

Temari stared at the ground, ashamed to have failed her brother.

"Nara, we place no responsibility for this on your shoulders. Konoha was not at fault," he turned away from them to look out the window at the city he was tasked to protect.

"This unknown ninja is troublesome. Someone is clearly interfering with our plans. You didn't see his forehead protector?"

Temari shook her head. "I'm sorry, Gaara. It was too dark."

"Sand," said Shikamaru. "With a cut through it. A sand missing-nin."

Gaara turned towards him. "Sand? You're sure?"

"It was in my dream," he explained, too tired to realize how foolish he sounded.

"Dream?" asked Gaara curiously.

Shikamaru went through the tedious and embarassing process of explaining.

Gaara nodded. "I see," was all he said. "I must do my best to fix things with Mist. Temari, may I speak to you privately?"

Shikamaru was just awake enough to take his cue. He bowed to the Kazekage and left the room.

-

"Sister, you should forget about him," Gaara said gently.

She felt a surge of anger. Before, she was a jounin who had failed her Kazekage. Now she was a sister being bossed around by her little brother.

"I thought I told you to stop that," she warned. "We're just friends."

Gaara raised his hands. "I don't mean that. He's going to die."

"What?!" she demanded.

"His dream. It will happen," he said, genuine sadness in his voice.

"It was just a dream!"

"The same thing happened to our father. He ignored it, and was killed."

"W-what?! I never heard anything about this!" she said hotly.

"I was told after I became Kazekage. I apologize for keeping it from you, it did not seem pertinent."

"Then...Shikamaru will really die?" Temari asked in disbelief.

Gaara only nodded.

"I won't let him! We know what's going to happen, right? We just keep that from happening!" she spoke firmly.

"I thought you would say that," said Gaara, letting a bit of affection touch his face. "The only lead we have is a woman named Kikyo. She was implicated after father was murdered, but no one could find anything linking her to Orochimaru."

"How do we find her?"


End file.
